As polio is spreading in Europe and elsewhere across the globe, authorities are taking measures to help prevent its spread — and these include ensuring safe travel
04:03, 05 Mar 2026Updated 06:37, 05 Mar 2026
Departures is empty at Orlando International Airport after an air control glitch last year(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Americans have been warned to take precautions before travelling to 31 countries due to the rise in polio cases.
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued the level two alert, advising people to make sure they’re up to date on their polio vaccines. People in the US who plan to travel to the listed countries, including the United Kingdom and Spain, are eligible for a single-dose booster of the vaccine.
Polio, officially called poliomyelitis, was one of the most worrying childhood diseases in the 20th century but incidences of it declined following the introduction of polio vaccines in the 1950s.
Yet, authorities say there has been a spike in recent weeks in Europe and elsewhere. The CDC is so concerened it has listed several countries with the alert. These also include Finland, Germany and Poland in Europe.
READ MORE: NHS GP shares vital message to parents who choose not to vaccinate their kidsREAD MORE: Chickenpox vaccine for kids rolled out on NHS – everything you need to know
A child gets one of their polio vaccinations (file image)(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Anyone in the US intending to visit these nations are advised to have the single-dose booster of the polio vaccine. It will help prevent the spread of polio, which is caused by the extremely contagious poliovirus and is “a crippling and potentially deadly disease that affects the nervous system.” It lives in the faeces of an infected person, but can also be spread via eating or drinking food that’s been contaminated.
Most people who contract polio do not exhibit symptoms — or if they do, they experience flu-like fevers, tiredness, nausea, headache, nasal congestion, and sore throat. In some cases, polio can lead to paralysis, as it did with US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who needed a wheelchair after he contracted the disease.
The CDC says that “vaccination has helped eliminate wild poliovirus in the United States.” It’s a four-dose series of shots given throughout childhood. In the UK, the polio vaccine is part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule. Children need six jabs to be fully vaccinated against polio and these are given at various stages in childhood from eight weeks to 14 years. Brits may need polio booster vaccinations before they travel abroad if they were last vaccinated against it more than 10 years ago.
But US citizens face different rules, amended this week following the polio outbreak. Authorities there say vaccination hesitancy is on the rise, contirbuting to the spread of these once-nearly eliminated diseases
Nausea is a common symptom of polio (file image)(Image: Getty Images)
The CDC’s list of 31 countries in full
Algeria
Angola
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Côte d’Ivoire
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Ethiopia
Finland
Gaza
Germany
Ghana
Guinea
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Poland
Senegal
Somalia
South Sudan
Spain
Sudan
Tanzania
United Kingdom
Yemen
Zimbabwe